ABS on motorcycles really do save lives
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has done a in-depth review of Anti-Lock Braking and has determined that it does reduce crash frequencies and deaths. In the Vol. 43, No. 9, Oct. 22, 2008 Status Report, the Institute has compared non ABS versus ABS model motorcycles and shows us the results.
Crash reduction benefit: The HLDI study compares insurance losses under collision coverage for 12 motorcycle models with optional antilock brakes versus the same models without this option. The researchers evaluated the effects of antilock brakes on both the frequency of insurance claims
that are filed for crash damage and the average cost of the damage, after accounting for rider age and gender, motorcycle age, and other factors that influence the likelihood
of a crash. Antilock brakes “appear to reduce collision claims,†says Matthew Moore, HLDI vice president and lead author of the study, “but they don’t affect the severity of the crashes for which claims are filed. The cost of these claims doesn’t go down.â€
Lives are being saved: In a complementary study, Institute researchers examined rates of fatal crashes of motorcycle models with and without antilocks. Eight models were studied, a subset of the 12 included in the HLDI analysis. The other 4 models were excluded because of sample size limitations.
A main finding is that there were 6.6 fatal crashes per 10,000 registered motorcycles without antilocks during 2005-06. The corresponding rate for the same bike models equipped with optional antilocks is 4.1, or 38 percent lower. Institute statistician Eric Teoh, author of the study, says the findings are statistically significant at the 90 percent confidence level.
While the report found that most ABS systems raise the price of the motorcycle by about $1,000 the numbers show that it may be worth every dollar if it can reduce the chance of an accident or collision. So take a look at the report yourself and make the decision before you go looking for your next motorcycle, it just may save your life.
Source: www.iihs.org/sr/pdfs/sr4309.pdf
